Starting With A Stranger
by oddball15
Summary: I met him on the dock at one in the morning. Who knew that one tiny decision could lead to so much? Naitlyn.


Taking a walk at one in the morning was probably not the best idea. There was a whole butt load of rules I was breaking, and if there were any freaky creepers hiding in the shadows, I'd be the first one dead, but right then I really didn't care about any of that. I was wide awake, but not very smart right then. You know how some nights you just can't sleep and all you want to do is get up and run around a bit, singing at the top of your lungs to your favorite party song? That's exactly how I was feeling. Only I figured that running around and singing wasn't a good idea, as I'd already walked outside and it was dead quiet. And it was still only the first week of camp, and me, being the rules-are-only-meant-to-be-broken type; I didn't find it significant that if I was caught now, I may be punished for the rest of my summer here.

Okay, so I know what you might be thinking. _What the hell were you doing, anyway? _You want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do so solemnly swear?

I have no freaking idea what I was doing.

But as I said before, I couldn't sleep and singing was _not _an option, so I took a walk late at night, under the big, clear sky. It's actually mesmerizing out there in the camp at night. The nearly full moon lit up the sky, and the whole camp, so I could see mostly everything pretty clearly. It was beautiful. Especially when I got to the lake.

The reflection on the water was incredible. You know, I'd seen pictures of water, reflecting the sky, but none of them do any tiny amount of justice to what I was seeing right then. The water glowed with the night and I honestly just wanted to dive right in the water, right into the sky. But the sane part of me would definitely not go for that, because even though it was slightly warm, in the night, the water would be like two degrees, and that basically screams "YOU WILL DIE IF YOU JUMP IN HERE, IDIOT". So, yeah, that was out, too.

Now that I was here, standing on the hill, looking down at the water, I didn't know what I wanted to do anymore. Would I just stand there and stare all night?

I probably would have, if I hadn't spotted a dark, shadowy figure of someone seated on the dock below me. Normal people would have jumped if they saw that, maybe even screamed, but strangely, it comforted me, like I wasn't the only insane person at this camp who took walks to the lake when they couldn't sleep.

And call me an idiot, but I skipped down the hill to the dock and silently seated myself next to this stranger. I really didn't believe that there were any freaky creepers out to kill me that night. I mean, come on. Who wants to kill a bunch of geeky kids obsessed with dancing and singing? Not any freaky creepers I know, for sure.

So I sat there, extremely close to this stranger of the night, who I had made up my mind to be a guy. He had muscles, for one, short curly hair for another, and he just didn't have a girly figure, for all. He was barefoot, like me, and was dangling his feet in the water, which I would have been doing if my legs were long enough. After a few moments of an odd sort of comfortable silence, he spoke to me.

"So, what's your story?" He asked in a quiet voice that was smooth, not too low and not too high pitched. It somehow fit with the mystery of him.

"I was wide awake. Had nothing else to do. Felt the sudden urge to take a walk down here. I'm glad I did it." And even though I was looking up at the bright, starry sky, I could feel him nodding. "What about you?" I asked him.

I noticed our shadow on the water, and saw him shrug. "Like you. Couldn't sleep. Cabin mates were snoring and sleep talking and I was thinking too much. I come here to think when I can't sleep."

"What do you think about?" I asked.

"Life."

His answer was so simple, yet so complicated; it made me want to think about life at dark hours of the night, too.

We sat there some more, in the silence and dark of the night. There was something about this stranger sitting next to me that was enormously intriguing, and kind of intimidating. I mean, who do you know that goes on walks to the lake after midnight to think about life? I don't know anyone who does that. Well, I mean, except for this guy.

"Do you ever get fed up with life? Do you ever hate how it goes by so fast, how there's never enough time to just sit and appreciate all the beauty of the world? How everyone's always too fast and too loud and sometimes you just want to freeze time and take it all in?" He said all this passionately, and boy did it scare me. This guy was _deep_. But he got me thinking.

"Yeah." I said, and I meant it. Maybe that was what united us; two strangers going to camp, wanting to appreciate life's beauty, but being so rushed we had to get out of bed in the middle of the night to do so. I thought about all the times I'd been working with Mitchie, and how our manager was always, "Go, go, go, hurry, hurry, hurry, rush, rush, rush. No time to stop and smell the roses, we're going to be late!" See, Mitchie was now an aspiring singer, me an aspiring music producer, helping with her music. I loved it, but this business is _busy_. And being the fresh young sixteen-year-olds we were, we still had to go to school. So every second out of school was workworkwork, which, don't get me wrong, is absolutely wonderful, but extremely exhausting.

"It's like no one is even allowed to take it all in anymore." I added.

"_Exactly_." He said. "I'm sorry I'm just… rambling on to you, you probably wanted to come out here for some peace and quiet."

"Oh, no, it's fine. I just came out here because I had nothing else to do. You're making it much more interesting than it would have been. Besides, you're not just rambling. What you said definitely has meaning." Wow, now it was my turn to be deep, I guess.

I finally snuck a look at his face and saw his mouth turn up in a smile. "Thanks."

"Anytime." And it was odd, but I really did mean it. I liked this guy. It seemed like, even though we'd only been talking for a few minutes, we understood each other. I understood how he was feeling, and I had this weird feeling that if I just told him my life story, right then and there, he wouldn't judge, and he'd get it. It was a weird feeling to have, but I liked it.

"How often do you come here?" I finally asked him. I had a feeling this wasn't his first time visiting.

"Well, I first came when I was twelve and my friend in the next bed was snoring so loud, I swear he was vibrating the cabin. I couldn't sleep so I came out here."

"Wow. Then you've been doing this for a long time."

"Well, not exactly. I only did it that once when I was twelve, and then the next summer I came out here for the last week. Past two summers, I haven't been here. This is the first time in two years. But it's just as exhilarating."

"Why didn't you go the last two years?"

"I was away. I had some stuff to do." He answered simply. I waited for him to continue, even though I was pretty sure that was all he planned to say. But he didn't go into detail, so I just kept my mouth shut. I looked up at the wide sky again and after trying to fight it back, yawned.

…..

"Hey." I heard a whisper and blearily opened my eyes. There, right in front of my face was the guy.

"Hey, sleeping beauty." I could make out his smile in the dim light. "We gotta get you back to your cabin, it's late. Or early, however you want to interpret."

Somehow, I managed to pull myself up and walk back to my cabin, the guy staying by my side the whole way.

"Thanks for coming out there tonight. It's nice to have someone to talk to, instead of just thinking to myself." He said as we reached the door to my cabin. I smiled.

"Anytime. Thanks for waking me up before the sun did."

"Anytime." He smiled back at me and before I could even think of anything else to say, he was gone.

…..

Half past midnight, this time. I walked down the dimly lit path silently once again. I had a purpose this time. I didn't feel like running around and singing now. I was just….excited? Scared? Terrified? Nervous? I didn't know what I was.

I spotted the dock, and I know it seems very cliché and stupid, but I swear my heart dropped when I saw it, sitting in the water, all by its lonesome, no one sitting on the edge. I still padded my way to the edge, and sat myself down, wondering if I'd just dreamed up the guy. But he'd seemed so real. I'd been able to talk to him. It was so thrilling to have been talking to a complete stranger in such a beautiful place after dark. I wanted it to be real. I wanted to talk to the guy again. I wanted to feel understood and understanding on such a deep level again.

I sighed and stared up at the stars. I wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight anyway.

…..

I was sure it had been at least an hour. That was long enough to be…. What? Waiting? Was I really waiting for him? Or was I just sitting, taking in the beauty of the world, like he'd been doing last night? Both, maybe? Well, I did know I was tired. I stood up and turned around.

"Hey."

I jumped back and before I knew it, I was plunging into the cold water. When I finally broke the surface again, the guy was reaching down from the dock. I swam over to him and grabbed his hand. Thank the lord my mom had forced me to take swimming lessons as a kid. I was a good swimmer; even at night with my PJs on.

He pulled me back up onto the dock and I coughed and sputtered all over him, but he just held me up until I could breathe again.

"Th-thank…you." I breathed. And then I realized how cold I was. I was shivering violently, and the only warmth I could feel was coming from his hand on my shoulder.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concern echoing in his voice.

"I-I d-d-don't know…." My teeth chattered as I answered him. No, I wasn't okay. And if I didn't get a towel or something soon, I'd freeze to death.

"Come on." He took hold my hand and attempted to pull me up the path. Once he realized I could barely walk, he turned around and swiftly scooped me up, cradling me against his chest. I was too cold to care that this would normally be extremely awkward, and now that I was snuggled up to his warm body, I didn't care about anything else but being warm again.

Soon, we were in a camp shower house and he was wrapping a towel around me.

"Here. Once you get warmed up a little more you need to take a hot shower and I'll get you some of my clothes to wear." I eagerly obeyed. The hot shower woke me up some and I realized that the guy wasn't, in fact, part of my imagination. He was definitely real. And I had just fallen into the lake because of him.

When I finished he knocked on the door and tossed in some clothes. Some pajama pants that were way too long for me and the shirt went down to my knees. But, I slipped them on and stepped out of the bathroom.

He was leaning against the wall of the shower house, looking up at the sky, but turned around when he heard me come out.

"How do you feel?" He asked, stepping closer to me.

"Much better. Thank you." I smiled at him.

"Anytime." He replied, and I couldn't help but remember our conversation the night before.

He walked me back to my cabin for a second time, being the nice guy he was.

"See ya." He said.

"Thanks, again. Bye."

"Oh, hey."

"Yeah?"

"Don't let people scare you in to lakes at night anymore, okay?"

I opened my mouth in mock offense before saying, "I'll try. But you should stop trying to scare helpless girls into lakes at night, hm?"

He smirked. "Touché."

I smirked back at him.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

And no, that was definitely not the last of our late-night rendezvous'.

…..

I came back the next night and was not disappointed. There he was, sitting on the edge of the dock like that first night. He turned around as he heard my footsteps and patted the space next to him, smiling.

"Fall into any more lakes?" He asked as I sat down.

"Scare anyone else into one?"

…..

We continued like that for days, just meeting at the dock around midnight. We never actually mentioned the time, and we never said things like "Tomorrow, same time, same place." We just knew we could find each other there. Sometimes, we'd just sit in each other's company, admiring the stars, the water, the darkness. Sometimes we'd just talk non-stop. He'd tell me about his first years at Camp Rock, and all the fun he had in his band with his two best friends. I'd tell him about dreaming about being a top-selling music producer, and the business I was in with my best friend.

After a few nights, we'd finally realized that we didn't know each other's names. We'd been watching the reflection of the sky in the water, and just finished a heated discussion that had something to do with black holes.

"I feel like I've known you for years, but I don't even know your name." He said as he turned to look at me.

"You're right." I said, turning towards him. "Hi, I'm Caitlyn Gellar." I shook his hand.

"Caitlyn Gellar, eh? That's a nice name. I'm Nate Black." He said, still shaking my hand, studying my face. We were both smiling.

"Nice to meet you, Nate Black. Why does your name seem so familiar?"

"Probably because that band I talk about is called Connect 3 and those two best friends I've told you about are named Shane and Jason. Oh, and that's also why I haven't been here for the last two summers."

"Whoa."

"Is that a bad or good 'Whoa.'"?

"Umm… I think it's good. Good because although Connect 3 isn't one of my favorite bands, I like the music and you've always been my favorite member."

"Aw, shucks, Caitlyn, I'm blushing."

"Yeah. I tend to do that to famous pop-stars."

"And how many famous pop-stars have you met?"

"Including you?"

"Yeah."

"One."

We just stared at each other until we both dissolved into a fit of quiet laughter.

…..

Every single night we did that, meeting up at the dock. It seemed by the second week, it had been programmed into my body. Sleep at ten, up whenever… It was always the right time, and then I was back up before breakfast. It was perfect, and that small portion of time always seemed to be the highlight of my day, or night, whichever.

…..

I smiled as I spotted Nate strolling down the hill. He waved and smiled back, but suddenly stumbled and came crashing to the ground. I waited for him to stand back up and whisper, "Ta-da!" with jazz hands, but he only sat up, a pained expression on his face.

I got up and ran toward him. "Oh my God, Nate, are you okay?" I don't even know why I said that. He was definitely _not _okay.

"My…ankle…" He said through bursts of heavy breath. He was now rocking back and forth on the ground and I could tell that he _hurt_.

"You're lucky I used to be a girl scout." I muttered as I bent over to look at his ankle, which, by some miracle, was right under the light of the lamp on the canoe shed we were next to. It looked slightly twisted and was beginning to swell.

"Hey, congratulations Nate, you've got a sprained ankle." He managed a twisted smile at my sarcasm, but I knew I needed to help him out.

"Here. Lean on me." I took his hand and put his arm around me as we stood up.

"Are you kidding, Caitlyn? You're like half my size."

"Nate."

"Okay, okay." He leaned on me slightly as I lead us to the good old shower house.

"Now you sit on the steps, I'm going to grab the First Aid kit."

Nate nodded and sat down.

When I came back out, First Aid kit in hand, Nate looked at me. "You never told me you were a girl scout."

"Yeah, until I was like twelve and dropped out. I had so much stuff going on, I had to drop something, so girl scouts was it."

"Who knew? Caitlyn, the medical genius." Nate made an impressed noise as I wrapped tape around his injured ankle.

"Yeah, well, I've always thought that if I don't make in the music business, I'll be a nurse.

"You know how they say, 'You learn something new every day'? Well, I just learned two new things, so I guess I'm good for tomorrow, too."

I laughed. "I guess so. Okay, now remember; RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation." I took out the ice pack and stuck it on Nate's ankle, then grabbed his hand and stuck it on the ice pack to hold it there and scooted over next to him on the steps.

"Rice?"

"Yeah. You need to stay off this foot for about two days, keep ice on it for about twenty minutes every hour, and make sure it stays above your heart level for a few days." As I said that, I grabbed his leg, raised it up and pushed him down, so he was lying on the floor of the front of the shower house and I was holding his foot in the air.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, if you want to ever be able to walk again."

"Gee, thanks, Cait. Just the encouragement I need." He stuck his tongue out at me but smiled.

"Here." I laid down, my head next to his, and stuck my leg in the air as well. "Does this help? Now we _both_ look like idiots, even though no one will see us anyway."

Nate laughed. "Yeah, that helps a lot. Thanks, Caitlyn."

"Anytime."

.....

And we kept going on and on like that. We never saw each other during the day, and we never tried to. I don't know if we were scared that it would ruin the whole "midnight meeting" thing or if neither of us really cared, but I know that as the hours, days, weeks went by, we got closer and closer. I began laying my head on his shoulder as I told him about my boring life before Camp Rock, and he began picking up my hand and holding it close to him as he told me stories of touring the world with one of the most popular boy bands out there. It just felt right, being so close to him, and I know he felt the same way. He'd told me so.

…..

It was the third or fourth week of camp, only about two weeks left, and I had gotten emails from both my mom and my dad, both asking basically the same questions and I almost felt like I should email them back the same letter because theirs had been so alike. It wasn't an emotional thing, it was just a bump on the road of Stupid Things My Parents Do. I wasn't sad anymore, talking about my parents. They had divorced when I was thirteen, and I had been depressed for a long while after, but now it was more annoying than anything, living in two places, being all spread out between parents and families. I'd been telling Nate about how irritating it was to hear my mom say something to me and then the next day have my dad say exactly what she had said. They were so much the same, and I loved them both dearly, but it just got ridiculous sometimes.

Nate had been nodding, commenting on my dysfunctional but lovable family(ies), holding my hand, stroking my fingers. After I was done, we were silent for a few moments.

"You know, Cait, it's so easy to be close to you. Even since that first night, it's never been awkward or rough between us. It just feels right, don't you think?"

I nodded. "Yeah. You were intimidating and deep, but I was never really scared of you. I thought you were fascinating and I _wanted_ to be close to you."

He laughed. "You thought I was fascinating and deep? How?"

"Who goes out in the middle of the night to take in the beauty of the world and think about life, Nate? I mean, I would've before, but the idea hadn't occurred to me until you mentioned it."

Nate laughed again. "See what I mean? It's so easy to just… be with you."

"You, too." I murmured as I squeezed his hand.

"I've never met anyone like you." He remarked as he put his finger to the tip of my nose. I raised my eyebrows.

"That's a good thing." He kissed my cheek.

I smiled. "You're sweet, Nate."

"I try."

I shook my head. "I've never met anyone quite like you either."

"Which is a good thing?" He asked.

"You better believe it."

…..

The next night was the one that stands out the clearest in my mind, next to the first one.

"Wow, it feels like the first day of camp was years ago, but it's gone by so fast." I remarked.

"I know what you mean. Time flies when you love someone."

I looked at him sideways. I couldn't exactly tell through the dim light, but I could swear he was blushing.

"You love someone?" I asked.

"Yeah. I think so." He nodded.

"What's her name?" I asked, trying to play it cool. Maybe it wasn't even me. But if it wasn't he would have told me…

"How do you know it's a her?"

My jaw dropped.

"OH MY GOD NATE, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" I screeched.

He burst out laughing. "Shh! You'll wake the neighbors… I'm kidding! I'm kidding! I'm totally kidding!" He managed between laughs. "I would have told you if I rolled that way, but I don't, I don't." He laughed some more. "You're face!! Was like..!" He cracked up again.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Not that I had anything against gay people. But Nate? He'd scared the shit out of me just then.

I waited for Nate to calm down. I just looked at him, waiting.

He finally stopped laughing and cleared his throat. He stared at me seriously.

And then, "Oh, come on, Cait, you gotta admit that was pretty freaking clever of me."

"Yeah. Pure genius." I said, trying to hold back a smirk.

Nate shook his head, trying to dispel his earlier silliness, I guessed. "Okay, so the girl I'm in love with? You want to know her name?"

I nodded, getting a little queasy.

"Her name is Caitlyn. Caitlyn Gellar." He took my hand. "Is that okay?"

I laughed out loud and relaxed at the same time. "You're asking for permission to be in love with me?"

"Is it working?"

I nodded vigorously. "Yeah."

Then he put his hands on my face and kissed me, full on the lips, and I kissed him right back, enjoying this more than anything else in my life. Ever.

…..

The last week of camp flew past us. And I knew Nate had been right about time flying when you're in love. I thought about him all the time, and he consumed my every thought, so it seemed like time was frozen, even though it was passing that much more quickly. The last night came much too soon for us.

There was a cold breeze blowing, but the night sky was as clear as it could possibly be. Bittersweet. Everything was bittersweet that night. Mitchie and I had won Final Jam, her singing an original song, me making the music. But I didn't want it to be over. I wanted to stay right there on the dock, Nate's arms wrapped protectively around me forever.

"Why does it have to end?" I asked Nate, feeling the tears rise up. I hadn't cried in front of Nate, only sulked on him on bad days. But I knew he wouldn't mind. He was just that kind of guy.

"Everything ends eventually, Caity." He kissed the top of my head. "And that means the time when we're apart will end. We'll be together again soon. And I promise I'll call you and write to you and email you and text you whenever I can. I won't lose you." Those words comforted me like nothing else could. He turned my face toward his and wiped the tear that had just slipped out of my eye away. He kissed my forehead. "I love you." He said.

"I love you." I told him.

"I know." He whispered, his lips brushing my ear.

* * *

I tip-toed my way down the dock, sitting myself carefully on the edge, next to the dark figure. I stared into the reflection the sky made on the water, taking in the simple beauty of it.

"So, what's you're story?" The charming stranger asked me after a few moments.

"Couldn't sleep, so I came down here. I used to come down here when I was sixteen. I used to meet up with this boy."

"Really?" He asked me.

"Really." I said. "What's _your_ story?"

He sighed and looked up into the clear night sky. "There's this girl that I'm in love with, and I have to ask her something."

"Oh, really?"

"Really." He assured me, and turned his face so I could see it in the moonlight. He shifted himself around so that he was on one knee and pulled something small and square out of his back pocket. He looked at me intently.

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes."

* * *

**Wow. I'm extremely surprised and proud of myself that I even wrote that much. I started writing it two nights ago, I don't even remember what sparked the idea, but it was fascinating to me, and I had to write this. It's a kind of different style for me, but I liked it so I kept to it. It's probably not my best quality either, because I was half asleep when I was writing the end and editing it. And I'm not so pumped about the end, but I figured it was better than just leaving you off somewhere when there's so much else to know. But I'm still proud of it. I decided it was much too short to be a chapter story, so it'll just be a slightly long oneshot. And I am in totally in love with Naitlyn right now, so just to warn you, there may be some more coming up soon. **

**I really hope you enjoy what I began writing at a late hour of night, and finished at an even later hour of night. :) Please review and tell me all of your thoughts on this style, this plot, and just anything else random that come to mind. Thanks for reading!**


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